Ghost Shirt & Couch Partners
by JenRar
Summary: Based on the opening Kensi/Deeks scene from Season 6 Episode 3, "Praesidium," see how Kensi & Deeks ended up asleep on Kensi's couch. Plus, whatever happened to Deeks's haunted black shirt?


_A/N #1: This is my first NCIS: LA fic. I'm relatively new to the fandom, although I've been a huge fan of the show since the beginning and have been a fanfic reader & writer for several other fandoms for…darn near a decade! But the current story lines are really prompting me to get involved in both reading & writing fics for this show, so here I am! :) When we saw the opening scene of episode 3, "Praesidium," with Kensi & Deeks asleep on the couch together, I couldn't help but write how they got there. And you know the black T-shirt just had to come into play. It was too cute a scene not to include! So this one-shot includes spoilers for "Inelegant Heart" as well._

_Thanks so much to JerichoSteele for pre-reading this for me. All right, that's enough from me. See me at the bottom!_

~*~DENSI~*~

**Ghost Shirt & Couch Partners**

Everyone was staring at the monitor, where Eric had just put up the results from the search of the Chauvenet files. Deeks felt as stunned as the others looked that Hetty's address had been compromised. A quarter of a million dollars to find where Hetty lived. The thought was frightening.

He tore his gaze from the screen at Granger's next words.

"There's nothing more we can do tonight. Get some rest." With a nod to the group, he turned on his heel and walked away, leaving the rest of them stunned.

"Whatta we do now?" Kensi asked, whipping around to Callen and Sam.

"Nothing we can do now," Callen answered, causing Kensi to protest.

"There's gotta be something we can do," she argued.

Standing, Deeks made his way to his partner's side, resting a hand low on her back in support. "Should we try to let Hetty know?"

Nell piped up from beside Eric. "Granger's on it," she said. "Callen's right. We should all get some sleep. We've got searches continuing to run. We'll let you know if we find anything else."

"But—"

"C'mon," Deeks said, steering Kensi away from the group. "They're right, partner. Let's get some food in you—don't argue." He shot her a look when she opened her mouth to do just that. "You haven't eaten since that Ding Dong earlier."

"You're the ding dong," she groused. "It was a Ho Ho."

"Po-tay-to, po-tah-to." He couldn't help but tease her as they grabbed their things. "Although, the only way you'd recognize a potato is if it was sliced up and fried."

He grunted—putting way more _oomph_ into the noise than the hit called for—when she elbowed him playfully. "Just tellin' it like it is, Fern." Dancing away quickly, he laughed when she missed with her deadly elbow again.

As soon as they stepped outside, Kensi's stomach growled, and she sighed. "Fine. Yummy yummy heart attack?"

Humming in agreement, he headed around to the passenger seat of her car, knowing without asking that she wouldn't let him drive.

~*~DENSI~*~

Forty minutes later, they were camped out on Kensi's couch, ready to chow down on their takeout. A variety of junk food was spread out around them, just waiting for them to be ready for dessert. Deeks snorted to himself when Kensi reached for a Twinkie before even opening her dinner.

"Did you see what I saw today in Ops?" he asked several minutes later, looking at her before stuffing another bite of food into his mouth.

"Nell and Eric?" At his nod, she grinned before spearing a piece of broccoli. "Oh yeah. Totally something going on there between Nell and her _favorite brain_." After a minute, she smirked and reached down beside the couch to dig into her bag. Pulling out a paper sack, she tossed it between them on the couch. "Brought you a present."

Gleefully, he grinned and raised an eyebrow. "Did you get me another cronut?" he asked, remembering back to first one she'd brought him. Without waiting for an answer, he dug into the sack, yanking his hand back when he felt the fabric of a very familiar T-shirt. "Oh, hell no," he groused. "You didn't bring that ghost-infected, drenched-in-dead-guy-juice, used-to-be-my-favorite shirt, did you? Please tell me you didn't do that…"

She just grinned.

"Aww, Kens," he groaned. "Why'd you do that?"

As his evil partner laughed—that loud, honking, snorting laugh he'd adored from the first moment he heard it—he pulled a pair of latex gloves from his back pocket, yanked them onto his hands, and picked up the offending sack. "I outta burn it right there in your kitchen sink."

He wouldn't—the smell would permeate the apartment for days—but he really thought about it for a minute. Instead, he grabbed a garbage bag from underneath the sink, tossed the paper sack with the offending T-shirt inside, and stripped his gloves, throwing them in with it before knotting up the trash bag. Stomping over to the front door, he glared at his still-snorting partner and then opened the door, tossed the bag out onto the landing, and then shut it behind himself before going back to the kitchen to wash his hands.

"You think antibacterial soap washes out ghost germs?" he called out, grinning to himself when she snorted again, nearly choking on the bite of food she'd just put in her mouth.

"Sure," Kensi replied, trying—and failing—to keep the smirk from her face.

Once his hands were as ghost free as he could make them, he sauntered back to the couch, falling down and grabbing his food. "Thanks, Sunshine, for the most awesome gift ever."

She just grinned and picked up the remote. "Think we can make it through _Top Model_ before one of us crashes?"

Feeling the weight of the day settle over him as they sat back on the couch, he shrugged. "Maybe not. Wouldn't be the first time I've crashed on your couch in the middle of a show."

She smiled a small smile, nodded, and clicked play.

~*~DENSI~*~

As soon as they finished their food and more than a few of the sugary-sweet treats, Kensi stretched out on the couch and put her feet in his lap. "Taneesha's gonna go home tonight," she said through a yawn. "Look at the judges' faces."

Running his fingers firmly over the arch of her left food, he nodded. "They aren't too happy with her. But look at Shauna. It's like last week never happened."

By the time he moved on to her other foot, he could hear the little snuffle-snorts coming from her as she snored softly. Reaching out, he pulled the remote from her hand, turned the volume down, and then grabbed another small pillow from the end of the couch. Carefully, he maneuvered them so the pillow was on her hip and his head was resting on the pillow, leaving him to kind of cuddle her legs. It wasn't the most comfortable position, but it certainly wasn't the worst he'd ever been in.

Yawning, he turned his attention back to the show, his eyelids already growing heavy. But his focus wouldn't stay on the models on TV. All he could think about was Kensi. Things had been in a holding pattern with their…relationship since she'd returned from Afghanistan. He understood; truly, he did. It had taken him a long time after Siderov to be able to handle even spending time with Kensi, let alone interact with the rest of the team and return to the job. But he knew she was bottling it all up, and at some point, it would come spilling out. As for their relationship, he was more than willing to take it slow and be patient, he thought as he glanced up at her face, which was, for the moment, peaceful.

He knew she would be worth the wait.

It wasn't long before the darkened room, only lit by the glow of the television, lulled him to sleep.

~*~DENSI~*~

_A/N #2: There it is. Whew! I survived. I hope you all enjoy my take on the end of that episode and Kensi & Deeks's relationship! I plan to write more for them…kind of a continuation of this in a new fic, once the Hetty, DOJ, & mole story lines are wrapped up. I *may* do another one-shot based on episode 3, "Praesidium," but I may just wait till I can start the multi-chap fic. We'll see!_

_Please, leave me a review and let me know what you thought. I'm WAY nervous about this since it's my first NCIS: LA fic! :)_

_~ Jenny_


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